Sunwing flight escorted by F-16 jets back to Toronto for emergency landing

CBC News ^ | CBC News

[balk]

Sunwing Flight 772 took off for Panama City on this morning, but was turned around after 45 minutes in the air for an emergency landing at Toronto's Pearson International Airport because of an "unruly passenger."

Sunwing officials say a passenger was making threats, some of which concerned the security of the plane. Pilots activated their emergency response plan and returned to Toronto.

Two U.S. F-16 fighter jets from Toledo, Ohio, were dispatched to escort the plane back to Toronto, North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) confirmed. The F-16s flew with the commercial plane out of U.S. airspace to Toronto as a "precaution."

[luvie]

Sounds like the bad guys are ratcheting up the threats. Our government has shown itself so weak they feel emboldened by it.

I think it’ll be a while before I want to fly anywhere. Not that the highways around here are much safer. LOL!

[Red Badger]

Was the mayor on board?...................

[exit82]

I think when the guy said “ Allah FUBAR!” he sort of gave it away.....

[Pollster1]

That is odd. There is no mention of the description of this “unruly passenger”. Did he look Amish or Quaker? Did he mention his theology, and if so what was it?

[Carl Vehse]

According to reports the unnamed male passenger made the dreaded "unspecified threat”, which brought in the F-16 escort and upped Canada and the U.S. to DefCon 2.

"He (allegedly) said something that wasn’t directed to anybody or anything specific,” said Peel police Const. Lillian Fitzpatrick. "But it caused the pilot enough concern that he decided to return to the airport."

The passenger's "unspecified threat" was overhead by another passenger across the aisle, who mentioned it to another passenger in another row who, while waiting to use the restroom, relayed it to an airline attendant in the back, who used the intercom to pass it on to an airline attendant in the front, who relayed it to the co-pilot, as he was getting some coffee, who immediately told the pilot.

SWAT teams swarmed the plane after it landed. Two dogs and a cat, housed in individual pet carriers, were found in the cargo hold and shot as a precaution.

[Former Proud Canadian]

Real headline is: "Ali Shahi charged after Sunwing plane makes emergency landing in Toronto"

Draw your own conclusions as to "Ali Shahi's" ethnicity.

[luvie]

I had to read the report to find out if the animals were actually shot. LOL!

[SgtHooper]

IMHO, the only reason for an F-16 is to shoot down the plane, if needed.

[livius]

I guess you’d like to stay on a flight with an unruly (clearly Muslim) guy who is sitting there probably saying something like “kill the infidel” or some other threat so “unspecified” that you know it’s got to be Islamic in nature. There are times when both caution and LE are actually necessary.

[mabarker1]

There are times when both caution and LE are actually necessary.

If I was on that plane they would have been needed for that SOB to survive getting back to the A/P

[Carl Vehse]

"I guess you’d like to stay on a flight with an unruly (clearly Muslim) guy"

There were already 180 other passengers on the flight with this "unruly (clearly Muslim) guy." Perhaps several of those 180 passengers should have changed this person from consciously unruly to unconsciously ruly. It's been done on other flights.